03/01/2013

I seriously love making these little books each year and equally love looking back through the ones I've made over previous years. It's a really cool (and pretty) way to condense a whole years worth of family memories into one small book. They make perfect pressies for grandparents and loved ones too.

These instructions are pretty loose, because this is a very freehand kind of project. What I'm providing is more like guidelines for you to use and go forth to create your own "one of a kind" book.

So let's get started.....

Each opening of the book has a page of text on one side and a page of photos on the other.

THE SUPPLIES

Mailer type envelopes - that open on the short edge with a rectangular flapChipboard - 2 pieces the same size as the envelopesPatterned Paper - One or two larger pieces for the cover & scrapsSticker AlphasCopy Paper - the regular kindPretty Things - washi tape, stickers etc from your stashGlue - glue stick highly recommended for cover - tape recommended for photo stickingSewing Machine - optional

MAKING THE BOOK

THE STORIES

Grab a pencil and paper and start jotting down a list of events/highlights/everyday moments for each family member. If your family is co-operative, you could ask them to provide their own. If your family is like mine and doesn't share your sense of urgency in getting the project done, I recommend you write down what you remember, then ask them to fill in the gaps. Believe me, mine are very forthcoming if they think I've missed something out or remembered something wrong (like a certain person's golf handicap!). haha

Once you have your text ready, you can either type it up or handwrite it onto plain old copy paper. One page of the album per person. I added an extra page for general family highlights and pet stories.

THE PICTURES

You need a page worth of photos. I used PicMonkey online photo editing software to create a collage made up of 4 photos per page and printed them out on 6"x4" photo paper. It's totally up to you. You can use as many or as few photos as you like, just choose images that will help tell the story or paint a picture of the person's year.

To make this kind of book, you need envelopes that open on the short edge, with a small flap. I used envelopes that I picked up in the sale bin at Typo earlier in the year. Mine measure 17cm x 14cm. To make an album with five openings (like mine - there are four in my family, so I used one opening per family member and one general page) you need 6 envelopes.

Bend the flap of each envelope back on itself, moisten the gum (go on - lick it!) and lay another envelope on top as shown. Do this with each envelope, being careful to make sure the sides all line up when stacked on top of each other.

This is totally optional, but I then took the envelope stack over to my sewing machine and stitched them securely together. You could hand sew them instead.

If you don't like the stitching idea, then I recommend you use a glue stick or double sided tape to secure the envelope flaps.

three. turning it into a book (magic!)

To make the cover, cut 2 pieces of chipboard the same size as your envelopes. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper long enough to wrap around the front and back of the album plus 1cm. Just glue on another scrap of paper on one end, if it's not long enough (a contrasting piece will look groovy - baby).

Generously coat one side of a chipboard piece with glue stick glue and attach it to the reverse side of the cpver paper. Lay it face down on the desk and use a brayer (or a credit card - or the back of your fist) to get any air bubbles out and attach the paper well.

Repeat with the other piece of chipboard, leaving a 5mm-10mm gap between the pieces for the spine, as shown in the sample photos above.

Now to attach the cover to the envelope pages, coat the chipboard pieces with glue stick glue - making sure you get right to the edges - and carefully wrap the cover around the envelope pages, making sure the cover lines up accurately. Then sit on the book for a couple of minutes to ensure it is well and truly stuck together. (This tip courtesy of Donna Downey)

The above image shows what the spine of the book looks like once it's put together.

Decorate the cover - go mad, have fun.

Attach the text to one page and a photo to the other for each opening.

Decorate each page opening using treasure from your stash, but keep it simple so the focus remains on the words and pictures. I used small scraps of patterned paper and washi tape and sticker scraps etc... Anything goes really. :)

This is the other one of the grandparents versions, they are more sensible looking than our family version which is always a little more random and mixed up. Just like us. haha

Let me know if you have any problems with these instructions. I'm happy to help.

02/12/2012

This is possibly the quickest and easiest project ever! It took me less than 2 hours to make 20+ Jarlights (including time to work out how to do it and take pics for this project).

To make some pretty Jarlights of your own, you'll need the following supplies:

Jam Jars - I always buy Rose's Jam and can never bear to part with the pretty jars. Needless to say, over the years I've amassed quite a collection :-o They need to be clean and dry. I always just chuck mine in the dishwasher and the labels get shabbified. You can remove the labels if you're fussy, but I like things to look a bit wonky. (lucky for my husband - haha)

A crepe paper streamer roll - or you could cut your own from tissue paper.

An assortment of colourful washi tape and fabric tape.

Assorted wire 18-24 gauge , coloured if you have it.

Tealight Candles

Scissors

Pliers for cutting

1/16" hole punch (or you could use an awl and cutting board)

Needle nose pliers for manipulating wire (optional)

STEP ONE

Firmly wrap crepe paper around the middle of the jar 3 times around, no need to tape it in place, just hold it with one finger as shown and cut.

STEP TWO

Wrap washi tape around the centre of the crepe paper, leaving a little overlap where it meets before cutting.

Repeat this with as many jars you have, using different washi tapes and designs.

STEP THREE

Now we are going to make hangers for them, so they can securely hang from the trees.

Take one end of wire and wrap it around the top of the jar under the screw top section. Add another inch to that and make a loop at the midway point as shown below.

STEP FOUR

Place that circle of wire back around the jar and twist the ends together at the opposite side of the jar. Don't cut it yet.

Measure out approximately 50cm of the wire, loop it over the top of the jar and cut it. Thread the loose end of the wire through the small loop you made earlier and twist the end of the wire securely in place as shown below.

STEP FIVE

Pop the tealight candle out of the aluminium housing. If it doesn't come out easily, gently squidge around the sides to loosen the wax and you should be able to gently prize it out.

Use a small hole punch to punch two holes just under the rim, opposite each other, as shown below.

STEP SIX

Use a fine gauge wire to create a handle, that's a little taller than the height of the jar. Then pop the candle back in.

This will allow you to lift the tealight up to the top of the jar for lighting without burning your fingers.

Once the tealight is burned out, simply flick out the little disc from the bottom of the container and replace with the candle from another tealight. No need to keep making handles. :)

STEP SEVEN

Hang in trees, light the candles at dusk and watch them get prettier and prettier as the moon rises. "awww pretty"

NOTES

Straight sided jars, or jars with a straight sided section in the middle are easiest to use.

If you use vase shaped jars give them an extra push up towards the top of the jar once the washi tape is in place. This will stop the pretty bits slipping down the sides of the jar.

Thin fabric, lace or gauze could be used in place of the crepe paper, however I would use double sided tape to attach fabric to the jar and ensure it doesn't slip down.

Tealights usually burn for about 4 hours.

You could go to town decorating these if you have time. For example you could add extra pretty by tying lace or ribbons around the jar. You could also use jump rings to add a gem or two to the side of the jar handle.

BE CAREFUL

Don't use if it's windy. The wire handle can be twisted around things to make them fairly secure but anything more than a gentle breeze could be dangerous.

Don't use on days of total fire ban.

Don't leave candles lit unsupervised (you never know what mischief they might get up to!)

16/03/2012

In this weekend project I'm going to show you some ideas for re-cyling clothing swing tags (price tags) into funky gift tags. If you're a bit of a craft supplies bower bird like me, you'll probably have a collection of cool price tags you couldn't bear to throw away. If not, it's a good excuse to go shopping *wink*.

All of these tags are made using the same concept. A pretty design on the front and a space on the back to write the recipients name and maybe a personal message.

You don't have to use price tags, in fact you could use any old cardboard scraps to make tags like these, as long as the cardboard is fairly thick and rigid.

Here's a few ideas you can adapt, using whatever materials you have on hand.

TAG ONE | 1

Most swing tags have a design or image on the front, with the price sticker on the back. Like this one (price sticker removed):

In this case, I decided to leave the front, but cover the back of the tag completely.

On the back of the tag.

Select a patterned paper to cover the back of the tag. Trace around the shape of the tag on the back of the patterned paper. Then cut that shape out, well within the traced lines, so that the paper fits neatly within the margins of the tag.

Mark the hole at the top of your swing tag with a pencil and punch it out before gluing the paper to the tag.

Once the backing paper is glued in place, sand around the edges. This helps to bind the paper fibres together and creates a lovely white border too.

Add a block of lined or plain paper - I drew a couple of thin lines around the edges of a coffee stained sticky note.

For the front of the tag:

Stick on a chipboard embellishment, cutting it to fit on the tag.

Add the letters 4U - I cut the letter U from a sheet of scrapbook paper (at left in picture) and glued it onto the chipboard shape and added a foam sticker 4.

Wrap a couple of layers of tape all the way around the tag, front and back (I used washi tape).

Finish off by threading some ribbon through the eyelet hole.

TAG TWO | 2

This tag is already pretty fancy, but we can do better, right?

Cut off the ugly grey cord and toss it away.

Lightly sand back some of the silver paint around the edges of the tag before you apply a soft layer of ink to the front and back of the tag.

Use a pink pen to add dots to the border of a Heidi Swapp journal dot. Glue it to a piece of blue spotty paper and cut around the journal dot, leaving a narrow margin of blue paper showing.

Glue both circles to the back of the tag.

Sand the edges of another journal dot and glue it on top of some blue patterned paper, leaving a narrow border, as before.

Glue both circles to the front of the tag and add sticker letters to spell out the words FOR YOU.

Finally, thread some pretty ribbon through the hole at the top of the tag.

﻿

TAG THREE | 3

This was a super simple tag.

I liked the red grommet and the look of the cardboard on the original tag, so I didn't cover the entire front with patterned paper.

Just grab a few scraps out of your stash and slap them down. Add a couple of layers of washi tape too if you like.

On the back:

I traced the shape of the tag onto a piece of patterned paper and also punched out a circle so the grommet could be seen.

I drew a margin around the edges of a fancy sticky note (with coffee stains) and glued it to the tag.

Then I added sticker letters "for" and handwrote the word you.

﻿

TAG FOUR | 4

This one already had pretty pink dots on the front, so all I did was:

Lightly sand the edges to create a nice border.

Then I doodled on a journalling dot (Heidi Swapp again) and glued it at the bottom of the tag which nicely covered the brand name.

I finished off the front with a couple of pink pearls (Kaiser).

The back of the tag was a solid pink colour.

I cut a piece of patterned paper, slighly smaller than the size of the tag and glued it down, leaving a narrow border around the paper.

I added another small strip of patterned paper, then cut out the words "to" and "from" off another scap of paper and glued them in place as shown.

Finally, I re-punched the hole and looped some felt rick rack through it.

﻿

TAG FIVE | 5

This was a cute little tag shape to begin with.

I cut out some patterned paper, slightly smaller than the shape, so that when I stuck it down, you can see a narrow border of white card.Next I added a narrow strip of red polka dot paper.

Then I stamped the words "FOR YOU" (stampin' up) on to a scrap of journal paper, rubbed ink around the edges of it and glued it on top.

I didn't have to cover the front of the tag as it already had this lovely blue spotty design.

All I added was: a tiny scrap of red dotty paper, a tiny scrap of red dotty washi tape, a storybook sticker (purchased from shelbyville, a seller on madeit.com.au); two tiny red glitter spots.

Finally I threaded through a scrap of red ribbon.

﻿

TAG SIX | 6

This final idea is to use a cool shaped tag as a template to make many more tags.

Trace around the shape on to a scrap of cardstock.

Get out your marker pens and create a pretty border design within the margins.

Glue the cardstock shape onto the back of a piece of patterned paper.

Once the glue is dry, cut around the outline.

Punch a hole in the top of the tag and thread some ribbon through. ....

Honestly, once you get going with these, the possibilities are endless!

And what a great way to use up some of those scraps you have lying around.

hello

hello!Let's share some crafty goodness. From time to time I will post FREE instructions for fun projects that are perfectly sized for a few spare weekend hours. So keep dropping by, as you never know what you might find. If you are looking for instructions for a particular project you will find it listed in the recent posts section below, or you can use the search box. This is a happy place where we can share our mutual love of craft, so please don't be shy and let me know what you think. Your comments, questions and project requests are most welcome. Happy Crafting! Wendle x